Save Me
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the digital review copy in advance. This book now translated into English hit shelves on July 1st and I’m playing a little catch up so I can dive into book 2 before it publishes on September 2nd.
Let me preface this review by saying, I have not watched the television series on Amazon Prime and went into this completely blind. What I knew of it was that some of my friends seemed to be loving, dare I say obsessing, over the show. When I saw this with a “read now” button next to it on NetGalley, I don’t know what happened; my finger clicked it before I could stop myself.
I went in blind, but you don’t have to. Here’s the setup:
Ruby Bell is in sixth form at a fancy-pants school called Maxton Hall. She’s on scholarship and all she wants is to keep her two worlds separate—home and school. She’s keeping her head down and doing everything in her power to have the strongest application possible to Oxford University, her dream. Enter James Beaufort—wealthy, handsome, popular, and not even a tiny bit charming to Ruby. When Ruby learns a secret about James’s twin sister, all her efforts to stay out of the spotlight come to an end as James keeps an eye on her to make sure she keeps her mouth shut.
I ate this up. It was most definitely a teen drama with all kinds of eye-rolling moments. It was angsty and a bit toxic. I hated the ending. The author even apologizes for it in her acknowledgements—not enough, Mona Kasten. These characters better get redemption! It’s a good thing I have book 2 on deck. Alas, book 3 is sitting in NetGalley purgatory (but I wasn’t outright denied for it, so I’m hopeful!).
Here’s what I loved:
🤍 Ruby’s determination and ambition with a healthy and supportive family
🤍 The way James changes over time, is softened, and learns to hope because of his unlikely friendship with Ruby
🤍 The tension between the main characters and their contrasts, coming from two different worlds in so many ways (finances, family, morality, etc.)
🤍 A surprising amount of character depth and backstory for such a quick read. I definitely expected less.
🤍 That this is a traditional trilogy. It has been a long time that I read something that was contemporary romance with a 3-book arc. I feel like it gives the characters more time to grow and change and lends the story greater believability. It also opens the way for each book to have its own romance tropes. This one obviously had an enemy-to-lovers feel to it, but I can already see how the next book will offer readers a second-chance story.
Overall, I’m so ready to dive right in to book 2. I’m invested. My heart is breaking for Ruby a bit right now. I need answers.
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🌶️ This one has one on-page explicit romance scene in it. This was a surprise to me because I’d seen the title advertised as young adult. I’d squarely place it in the new adult category for this reason and others (Berkley actually did as well on NetGalley).
